The Red Band Film Company LLC

A dramatic bloom of “red tide” along the Space Coast of Florida hindered the shooting of Red Band’s demonstrator episode of Pariah Island on December 12, forcing the company to plan a reshoot of the majority of scenes. A sound engineer was removed from the set due to intense complications from the irritating fumes to prevent injury.

(Photo left: Laura Ramos plays law student Cara during a “talking head” shot, filmed on Dec. 12.) 

“Red tide” is the name given to the phenomenon caused by a bloom of the  seaborne algae karenia brevis, which poisons water along the coast and expels an aerosol toxin into the air.  The latest bloom killed a number of dolphins and poisoned local shellfish.

The red tide caused the air surrounding the shooting location to be filled with the aerosol, affecting cast and crew, as well as equipment. All persons not actually speaking lines were forced to wear breathing masks throughout the day; even with the masks, cast and crew were coughing continually throughout the 12-hour shoot day.

One sound engineer, who already suffered from a smoker’s cough, could not regain control of his coughing and had to be removed from the location for examination by a physician after he was seen coughing blood. A cast member jumped in to assist with operation of the mike boom, but the resulting audio quality suffered.

(Photo left: a sound engineer rests between takes, wearing a breathing mask to protect him from red tide “fumes”.)

In addition, the microscopic aerosol, itself an organic insulator, proved detrimental to the equipment, finding its way into camera and sound connectors, affecting audio and data collection from the equipment. Lenses had to be constantly wiped due to the almost invisible cloud, yet resulting footage still suffered from poor visual quality.

The severity of the red tide bloom was unprecedented. Brevard County  officials issued the first health warning on December 13th, two days after the filming. Local pharmacies sold out on large quantities of OSHA dust masks and other respiratory aids.

The Red Band Film Company operates out of Polk County, located in the center of the state, and therefore had no knowledge of the red tide bloom until arriving the night before the shoot.

Return to Flight

Using the aerospace industry as a metaphor, Paris plans a “return to flight” plan which will put the demo shoot back on schedule.

“Our production company, Oasis Media, and Red Band are putting together a comprehensive plan for getting Pariah Island back on track,” Paris said. “This involves looking at the footage, of course, to see what’s salvageable, but also determining what we should have predicted, and how we can improve next time. Obviously, exploring the potential of environmental factors has now been added to our list of things to consider in the future.”

Red Band tentatively plans to reshoot the demo episode in mid-January 2008.

“No other production company would work this hard on a demonstrator episode that will never really be seen by the public,” Paris said. “But we need to prove to ourselves, as well as potential partners, that we can make a network TV quality program, and do it reliably and consistently.”

Additional photos from the shoot can be viewed on the program’s official site, www.PariahIsland.com.